The third conference in 13 years held in Chiangmai on Shan State
constitution had resolved yesterday that the country’s largest state
should work for federalism both inside and outside the state.
After 5 hours of deliberation on the 9 constitutional guidelines
adopted in 2007, the 39 participants from Kachin, Kayan (aka Padaung),
Lahu, Lisu and Shan armed movements and civil society organizations had
reached the said decision.

Sao Tzang Yawnghwe

The new 10 guidelines are:

To participate in forging a genuine federal union

To create a federal structure within Shan State

Right of self determination for Shan State

A democratic decentralized administrative system

Sovereign power derives from the people of Shan State

To guarantee equality among the Shan State’s ethnic nationalities

To guarantee ethnic minority rights

To guarantee basic human rights and gender equality

To practise a multi-party democratic system

To be a secular state

This was a far cry from the first conference in 2000, when
participants were divided on the question of Independence as proposed by
the Restoration Council of Shan State / Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA) and
the second conference in 2007, when the hardliners barely softened its
stand by agreeing “To be a member state of a genuine federal union.”
(“It means if the Shan State doesn’t think there is a genuine federal
union, it won’t join,” Khuensai Jaiyen, the outgoing President of the
Shan State Constitution Drafting Commission elaborated.)
The RCSS/SSA had, since the signing of a ceasefire with Naypyitaw on 2
December 2011 to embark on a nationwide political dialogue, replaced
its “Total Independence” call to “Right of Self Determination.”

Sao Seng Suk

President Thein Sein later (1 October 2013) called the agreement by
all major armed opposition groups not to secede from the Union as the
achievement “I value most”.
The 3 day conference, formally titled “The Third Consultation on Shan
State Constitution”, is due to end today with the election of a new
Shan State Constitution Drafting Commission/Committee.

For the first time since 2000, more people from inside the country are expected to join it.
The state constitution movement was started by the late Chao Tzang Yawnghwe (1939-2004) who said: In a genuine federal union, all states have their own constitutions. The first SSCDC was headed by the late Sao Hseng Serk (1935-2007). It has already produced 2 drafts.